Lens, camera module and manufacturing method thereof

ABSTRACT

A lens ( 10 ) and a camera module ( 100 ) and a manufacturing method thereof, wherein the lens ( 10 ) comprises an edge-cut lens sheet ( 114 ), wherein the edge-cut lens sheet ( 14 ) includes at least one chord edge ( 1141 ) and at least one circular edge ( 1142 ), wherein the chord edge ( 1141 ) and the circular edge ( 1142 ) are adjacently connected to each other, and wherein the chord edge ( 1141 ) and the circular edge ( 1142 ) have different curvatures, so that the lens sheet ( 114 ) becomes narrow and the width of the lens ( 10 ) become narrow, to form an ultra-narrow camera module ( 100 ).

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Divisional of copending application No. U.S. Ser.No. 16/479,403, filed on Jul. 19, 2019, which is the National Phaseunder 35 U.S.C. § 371 of International Application No.PCT/CN2018/074319, filed on Jan. 26, 2018, which claims priority under35 U.S.C. § 119(a) to and benefit of Chinese Patent Application No.201710057589.2, entitled “CAMERA LENS AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SAME,AND CAMERA MODULE”, filed on Jan. 26, 2017, and Chinese PatentApplication No. 201720107077.8, entitled “CAMERA LENS AND MODULE OFMAKING A VIDEO RECORDING”, filed on Jan. 26, 2017. The above-referencedapplications are incorporated into the present application by referenceherein in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to the field of camera modules, andfurther relates to a lens and a camera module and a manufacturing methodthereof, in particular to an ultra-narrow lens and a camera module,wherein the body shape of the camera module is greatly reduced, whichprovides the convenience for a smart device to compactly use the cameramodule.

TECHNICAL BACKGROUND

With the development of smart devices, camera modules are alreadyindispensable devices in the smart devices. Moreover, the highperformance of the camera modules is a main direction for theimprovement and development of smart devices, and is the key to theperformance of smart devices.

At present, the conventional smart devices, such as smart phones, smartcomputers, smart homes, etc., need to leave very large spaces for thecamera modules, especially need to provide wide edges for the cameramodules when designing the frames. However, as the smart devices areseeking for the trend of a small size and a narrow bezel, the cameramodules must also be reduced in volume. How to ensure the normaloperation of the lens and the intact function of the camera module whilereducing the volume is a problem that needs to be solved.

A conventional lens and a conventional camera module are as shown inFIG. 1 . The conventional camera module includes at least one lens sheet10P, a lens barrel 20P, a lens base 30P, and a circuit assembly 40P,wherein the lens sheet 10P is a round lens sheet, the lens barrel 20Phas a cylindrical tubular structure, the lens base 30P has a squarestructure, and the circuit assembly 40P has a square shape. Herein,since the lens barrel 20P encloses and supports the lens sheet 10P, theouter shapes of the lens barrel 20P and the lens sheet 10P correspond toeach other, that is, the lens sheet 22P and the lens barrel 20P are botha complete round shape when viewed from an axial direction. However, thelens base 30P and the circuit assembly 40P are both square, and a mainphotosensitive chip 41P in the circuit assembly 40P is also square. Eachof the lens sheets 10 P has a round light-passing portion and anon-light-passing portion. Therefore, a lot of light is not received bythe circuit assembly 40P, but falls on components having relativelysmooth surfaces of the circuit assembly 40P, such as gold wires, pads,lines, lens bases, molded parts, glue, etc., and returns to an imagingregion after multiple reflections to form stray light. Then, if it canbe modified from the lens sheet 10P, unnecessary portions are reduced,so that the lens barrel 20P, the lens base 30P, and the circuit assembly40P are correspondingly reduced in unnecessary portions, and the volumeof the camera module may be reduced in the whole-body shape. Moreover,in practice, in an extreme case, as long as the circuit assembly 40P isslightly larger than the photosensitive chip, the lens barrel 20P has asize corresponding to the circuit assembly 40P, and the lens sheet 10Phas a size corresponding to the photosensitive chip of the circuitassembly 40P, the complete function of the camera module can be ensured.

The conventional camera module leaves a lot of safety space for thecircuit assembly 40P, especially for the photosensitive chip 41P tostably operate for a long time, and a lot of space is expanded in thecircuit assembly 40P. Moreover, in order to ensure an effective clearaperture, the conventional lens sheet 10P uses a spacer or a lightblocking plate to block unwanted light. However, the light may still berefracted and reflected on a portion of the lens sheet to form straylight.

The above factors not only decrease the imaging effect, but also causemany redundant portions existing in the overall body shape of the cameramodule. This is disadvantageous to a compact use environment and anapplication of a highly integrated system.

On the other hand, with the development of high pixel camera modules,the number of lens sheets of the lens is continuously increasing, forexample, up to the number of lens sheets of 4p, 5p, 6p, 7p or more, andthe volume of the lens is also continuously increasing. Therefore, theinfluence of the lens on the camera module is also becoming bigger andbigger, and the improvements to the lens also become more important.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a lens and a cameramodule and a manufacturing method thereof, which utilize a compact bodyshape, reduce an unnecessary volume, and are effectively applied in asmart device in the case of ensuring a complete function.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a lens and acamera module and a manufacturing method thereof, wherein the lenscomprises at least one edge-cut lens sheet, wherein the edge-cut lenssheet has at least one chord edge, an imaging region and a non-imagingregion, and the body shape of the edge-cut lens sheet will be reduced bythe chord edge, but the imaging region of the edge-cut lens sheet willnot be affected.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a lens and acamera module and a manufacturing method thereof, wherein the cameramodule further comprises an edge-cut lens barrel, a base and a circuitassembly, and wherein the edge-cut lens barrel and the base match withthe body shape of the edge-cut lens sheet to effectively process lightin the circuit assembly.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a lens and acamera module and a manufacturing method thereof, wherein the chord edgeof the lens sheet reduces the influence from the non-imaging regionwhile not affecting the imaging region.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a lens and acamera module and a manufacturing method thereof, wherein the edge-cutlens sheet further comprises at least one circular edge, and thedifference in shape of the chord edge and the circular edge can decreasethe difficulties in the assembly of the edge-cut lens sheet.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a lens and acamera module and a manufacturing method thereof, wherein the chord edgeof the edge-cut lens sheet may be a straight line, or may be an arc, andwith respect to the round shape of the circular edge, the chord edge mayreduce time and cost spent in the processing and design of a mold,significantly reducing the use of materials.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a lens and acamera module and a manufacturing method thereof, wherein thecorresponding processing yield of the chord edge of the edge-cut lenssheet is improved relative to the circular edge.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a lens and acamera module and a manufacturing method thereof, wherein thenon-imaging region of the edge-cut lens sheet is much reduced relativeto a conventional lens sheet, and the light passing through thenon-imaging region is also reduced accordingly, and the imaging effectand imaging efficiency are improved.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a lens and acamera module and a manufacturing method thereof, wherein due to thereduction of the body shape of the edge-cut lens sheet, the edge-cutlens barrel, the base, and the circuit assembly are also correspondinglyreduced in body shape, so that the overall body shape of the cameramodule is narrowed.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a lens and acamera module and a manufacturing method thereof, wherein due to thedesign of the chord edge of the edge-cut lens sheet, the edge-cut lensbarrel and the base have corresponding chord edges portions in theirshapes.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a lens and acamera module and a manufacturing method thereof, wherein the positionof the chord edge portion of the edge-cut lens barrel corresponding tothe base may be linear or arc, and in order to manufacture the chordedge portion of the edge-cut lens barrel, a device and a mold used donot have to be round.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a lens and acamera module and a manufacturing method thereof, wherein the time andcost spent in the design and processing of the chord edge portion of theedge-cut lens barrel may be reduced relative to the conventional roundshape, and the corresponding processing yield will be improved.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a lens and acamera module and a manufacturing method thereof, wherein thecorresponding cooperation of the chord edge portion of the edge-cut lensbarrel and the base facilitates the assembly of the camera module, andthe installation direction can be quickly determined.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a lens and acamera module and a manufacturing method thereof, wherein the circuitassembly can be mounted more compactly by the reduction of the bodyshapes of the edge-cut lens barrel and the base.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a lens and acamera module and a manufacturing method thereof, wherein the edge-cutlens sheet is disposed correspondingly to the photosensitive chip of thecircuit assembly, and the non-imaging region of the edge-cut lens sheetis reduced relative to the body shape of the photosensitive chip of thecircuit assembly, and the influence is also decreased accordingly.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a lens and acamera module and a manufacturing method thereof, wherein the edge-cutlens sheet is one-shot molded by injection molding, and the chord edgeis formed correspondingly, so that the production difficulty is reducedwhile the manufacturing cost is reduced.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a lens and acamera module and a manufacturing method thereof, wherein the edge-cutlens barrel and other devices corresponding to the edge-cut lens sheetare one-shot molded by injection molding, and their manufacturing moldsalso have body shapes corresponding to the lens sheet.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a lens and acamera module and a manufacturing method thereof, wherein by thecorresponding edge-cut lens sheet, the edge-cut lens barrel, the baseand the circuit assembly, they can readily correspond to each other whenassembling, thereby simplifying the assembly process.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a lens and acamera module and a manufacturing method thereof, wherein by thecorresponding edge-cut lens sheet, the edge-cut lens barrel, the baseand the circuit assembly, the body shape of the camera module iscorrespondingly reduced, achieving an ultra-narrow camera module withrespect to the conventional art.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a lens and acamera module and a manufacturing method thereof, wherein the lens ismatched with the design requirement of the base, so that the size of thecamera module can be miniaturized as a whole.

In order to achieve at least one of the above objects, an aspect of thepresent invention provides a lens comprising: at least one edge-cut lenssheet, wherein the edge-cut lens sheet includes at least one chord edgeand at least one circular edge, the chord edge and the circular edgebeing adjacently connected to each other, and wherein the chord edge andthe circular edge have different curvatures.

According to some embodiments, in the lens, the chord edge has acurvature of zero and is a straight line segment.

According to some embodiments, in the lens, the circular edge has acurvature greater than 0, and is an arc line segment.

According to some embodiments, in the lens, the chord edge is a straightline and the circular edge is a circular arc.

According to some embodiments, in the lens, the number of the chordedges and the number of the circular edges are 1, and the chord edge hasa curvature of zero and is a straight line segment.

According to some embodiments, in the lens, the number of chord edges is2, and each of the chord edges has a curvature of 0 and is a straightline segment.

According to some embodiments, in the lens, the number of chord edges is2, the number of circular edges is 2, and the chord edges aresymmetrically distributed.

According to some embodiments, in the lens, the chord edges are straightline segments.

According to some embodiments, in the lens, the lens comprises aplurality of lens sheets, at least one of which is the edge-cut lenssheet and at least one of which is a round lens sheet.

According to some embodiments, in the lens, the edge-cut lens sheet islarger than the round lens sheet in size.

According to some embodiments, in the lens, the lens comprises four lenssheets, wherein the lens sheets are sequentially increased in size, andwherein the lens sheet having the largest size is the edge-cut lenssheet.

According to some embodiments, in the lens, the lens comprises anedge-cut lens barrel, in which the edge-cut lens sheet is mounted.

According to some embodiments, in the lens, the edge-cut lens barrelincludes a chord edge portion and a circular edge portion, and whereinthe chord edge portion and the circular edge portion have differentcurvatures in their section edges.

According to some embodiments, in the lens, the chord edge of theedge-cut lens sheet corresponds to the chord edge portion of theedge-cut lens barrel.

According to some embodiments, in the lens, the edge-cut lens sheet isone-shot molded by means of injection molding.

According to some embodiments, the lens comprises at least one opticalpath element, which is disposed adjacently to the lens sheets tofacilitate formation of a predetermined light passage in the lenssheets.

According to some embodiments, in the lens, the outer edge shape of theoptical path element at the edge-cut lens sheet is consistent with theshape of the edge-cut lens sheet.

According to some embodiments, in the lens, the optical path element isselected from the group consisting of a gasket, a shim and a coating.

Another aspect of the present invention provides a camera module,comprising: a lens, wherein the lens comprises at least one edge-cutlens sheet, wherein the edge-cut lens sheet includes at least one chordedge and at least one circular edge, the chord edge and the circularedge being adjacently connected to each other, and wherein the chordedge and the circular edge have different curvatures; and aphotosensitive assembly, wherein the lens is located in thephotosensitive path of the photosensitive assembly.

According to some embodiments, in the camera module, the photosensitiveassembly includes at least one base, at least one photosensitive chipand at least one circuit board, and wherein the base is disposed on thecircuit board so as to provide a mounting position, the photosensitivechip is electrically connected to the circuit board, and the lens islocated in the photosensitive path of the photosensitive chip.

According to some embodiments, in the camera module, the base isintegrally formed on the circuit board to form at least one light windowto provide a light passage for the photosensitive chip.

According to some embodiments, in the camera module, the base includes abase main body and a supplementary base, the base main body has a notch,and the supplementary base supplements the notch to form a closedwindow.

According to some embodiments, in the camera module, the edge-cutposition of the lens corresponds to the position of the supplementarybase.

According to some embodiments, in the camera module, the base isadhesively fixed to the circuit board.

According to some embodiments, in the camera module, the circuit boardincludes a circuit board main body and at least one electronic element,which is disposed on the circuit board main body, and wherein the baseis integrally formed on the circuit board main body and encapsulates atleast one of the electronic elements.

According to some embodiments, in the camera module, the circuit boardincludes a circuit board main body and at least one electronic element,wherein at least one of the electronic elements is disposed at thebottom of the circuit board main body, and the base is integrally formedat the top of the circuit board main body.

According to some embodiments, in the camera module, the circuit boardhas a sinking region, in which the photosensitive chip is sunkenlydisposed.

According to some embodiments, in the camera module, the sinking regionis selected as a groove or a through hole.

According to some embodiments, in the camera module, the photosensitivechip has a photosensitive region and a non-photosensitive region, andthe base integrally packages at least a part of the non-photosensitiveregion.

According to some embodiments, in the camera module, the camera modulecomprises at least one filter element, and wherein the base integrallypackages the filter element.

According to some embodiments, in the camera module, the camera modulecomprises a blocking lens, which is located above the photosensitivechip and is integrally packaged by the base.

According to some embodiments, in the camera module, the blocking lensis the edge-cut lens sheet.

According to some embodiments, the camera module comprises a lenscarrying element, and wherein the lens is mounted to the lens carryingelement, and the lens carrying element is mounted to the base.

According to some embodiments, in the camera module, the lens carryingelement is a driving component to form a moving focus camera module.

According to some embodiments, in the camera module, the lens carryingelement is a lens fixing component to form a fixed focus camera module.

According to some embodiments, the lens carrying element is integrallyconnected to the base, and the lens is mounted to the lens carryingelement to form a fixed focus module.

According to some embodiments, a plurality of camera modules form anarray of camera modules.

Another aspect of the present invention provides a lens, comprising: atleast one edge-cut lens sheet and an edge-cut lens barrel, in which theedge-cut lens sheet is mounted, wherein the edge-cut lens sheet includesat least one chord edge and at least one circular edge, and the chordedge and the circular edge are adjacently connected to each other, andwherein the chord edge and the circular edge have different curvatures,the edge-cut lens barrel includes a chord edge portion, whichcorresponds to the chord edge of the edge-cut lens sheet so as to reducethe volume of the lens.

Another aspect of the present invention provides a camera module,comprising:

a lens, which comprises at least one edge-cut lens sheet and an edge-cutlens barrel, in which the edge-cut lens sheet is mounted, wherein theedge-cut lens sheet includes at least one chord edge and at least onecircular edge, and the chord edge and the circular edge are adjacentlyconnected to each other, and wherein the chord edge and the circularedge have different curvatures, the edge-cut lens barrel includes achord edge portion, which corresponds to the chord edge of the edge-cutlens sheet so as to reduce the volume of the lens; and

a photosensitive assembly, wherein the lens is in the photosensitivepath of the photosensitive assembly.

According to some embodiments, the circuit board includes a first boardbody and a second board body, and the first board body and the secondboard body are electrically connected by a connecting medium, the secondboard body is used for electrically connecting an electronic device, thebase is disposed on the first board body, and the chord edge of theedge-cut lens sheet is located on the side close to the second boardbody.

According to some embodiments, the circuit board includes a first boardbody and a second board body, the first board body is electricallyconnected to the second board body by a connecting medium, the secondboard body is used for electrically connecting an electronic device, thebase is disposed on the first board body, and the chord edge of theedge-cut lens sheet and the chord edge portion of the edge-cut lensbarrel are located on the side close to the second board body.

According to some embodiments, the circuit board includes a first boardbody and a second board body, the first board body is electricallyconnected to the second board body by a connecting medium, the secondboard body is used for electrically connecting an electronic device, thebase is disposed on the first board body, and the chord edge of theedge-cut lens sheet is located on the side away from the second boardbody.

According to some embodiments, the circuit board includes a first boardbody and a second board body, and the first board body and the secondboard body are electrically connected by a connecting medium, the secondboard body is used for electrically connecting an electronic device, thebase is disposed on the first board body, and the chord edge of theedge-cut lens sheet and the chord edge portion of the edge-cut lensbarrel are located on the side away from the second board body.

According to some embodiments, the circuit board includes a first boardbody and a second board body, the first board body is electricallyconnected to the second board body by a connecting medium, the secondboard body is used for electrically connecting an electronic device, thebase is disposed on the first board body, the edge-cut lens sheetincludes two chord edges, one of which is located on the side close tothe first board body, and the other of which is located on the side awayfrom the second board body.

According to some embodiments, the circuit board includes a first boardbody and a second board body, the first board body is electricallyconnected to the second board body by a connecting medium, the secondboard body is used for electrically connecting an electronic device, thebase is disposed on the first board body, the edge-cut lens sheetincludes two chord edges, the edge-cut lens barrel includes two chordedge portions, one of the chord edges and one of the chord edge portionsare located on the side close to the first board body, and the other ofthe chord edges and the other of the chord edge portions are located onthe side away from the second board body.

According to some embodiments, the base includes four side edges, whichare a first side edge, a second side edge, a third side edge and afourth side edge, respectively, the first side edge, the second sideedge, the third side edge, and the fourth side edge are adjacentlyconnected to each other to form a light window to provide a lightpassage for the photosensitive chip, the first side edge is close to thesecond board body, and the chord edge is located in the direction of thefirst side edge.

According to some embodiments, the width dimension of the first sideedge is smaller than that of the second side edge and that of the fourthside edge.

According to some embodiments, the base includes four side edges, whichare a first side edge, a second side edge, a third side edge and afourth side edge, respectively, the first side edge, the second sideedge, the third side edge, and the fourth side edge are adjacentlyconnected to each other to form a light window to provide a lightpassage for the photosensitive chip, the first side edge is close to thesecond board body, the third side edge is opposite to the first sideedge, and the chord edge is located in the direction of the third sideedge.

According to some embodiments, the width dimension of the second sideedge is smaller than that of the second side edge and that of the fourthside edge.

According to some embodiments, the base includes four side edges, whichare a first side edge, a second side edge, a third side edge and afourth side edge, respectively, the first side edge, the second sideedge, the third side edge, and the fourth side edge are sequentially andadjacently connected to each other to form a light window to provide alight passage for the photosensitive chip, the first side edge is closeto the second board body, and the third side edge is opposite to thefirst side edge, and wherein one of the chord edges is located in thedirection of the first side edge, and the other of the chord edges islocated in the direction of the third side edge.

According to some embodiments, the circuit board includes a first boardbody and a second board body, and the first board body and the secondboard body are electrically connected by a connecting medium, the secondboard is used for electrically connecting an electronic device, and thebase is disposed on the first board body.

According to some embodiments, the circuit board includes at least oneelectronic element, which is disposed on the first board body, andwherein the base is integrally formed on the first board body andencapsulates at least one of the electronic elements.

According to some embodiments, the electronic element is selectivelydisposed on one side edge, two side edges, three side edges, or fourside edges of the four side edges of the base.

According to some embodiments, the electronic element is disposed at theposition of the second side edge and the fourth side edge.

According to some embodiments, the electronic element is disposed at theposition of the first side edge and the third side edge.

According to some embodiments, the photosensitive chip is electricallyconnected to the first board body by an electrical connection element,and the base is integrally formed on the first board body, andencapsulates the electrical connection element.

According to some embodiments, the electrical connection is selectivelydisposed on two sides, three sides, or four sides of the four sides ofthe base.

According to some embodiments, the electrical connection element isdisposed at the position corresponding to the second side edge and thefourth side edge.

According to some embodiments, the electrical connection element isdisposed at the position corresponding to the first side edge and thethird side edge.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of a conventional camera module.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a camera module in accordance with afirst preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the camera module in accordance with thefirst preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an exploded view of a lens in accordance with the firstpreferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of the design principle of the lens inaccordance with the first preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of comparison of imaging light in accordancewith the first preferred embodiment of the present invention and aconventional lens.

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of a first modified embodiment of the lens inaccordance with the first preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of a second modified embodiment of the lensin accordance with the first preferred embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 9 is a schematic view of a third modified embodiment of the lens inaccordance with the first preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a schematic view of a fourth modified embodiment of the lensin accordance with the first preferred embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 11 is a schematic view of a fifth modified embodiment of the lensin accordance with the first preferred embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 12 is a schematic view of a partially modified embodiment inaccordance with the first preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a schematic view of a camera module in accordance with asecond preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a schematic view of a camera module in accordance with athird preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a schematic view of a camera module in accordance with afourth preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a schematic view of a camera module in accordance with afifth preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a schematic view of a camera module in accordance with asixth preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a schematic view of a camera module in accordance with aseventh preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a schematic view of a camera module in accordance with aneighth preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 20 is a schematic view of a camera module in accordance with aninth preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 21 is a camera module in accordance with a tenth preferredembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 22 is a camera module in accordance with an eleventh preferredembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 23 is a camera module in accordance with a twelfth preferredembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 24 is a schematic view of a camera module in accordance with athirteenth preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 25A and 25B are schematic views of a camera module in accordancewith a fourteenth preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 26A and 26B are schematic views of a camera module and aphotosensitive assembly in accordance with a fifteenth preferredembodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 27A and 27B are schematic views of a camera module and aphotosensitive assembly in accordance with a sixteenth preferredembodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 28A and 28B are schematic views of a camera module and aphotosensitive assembly in accordance with a seventeenth preferredembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 29 is a schematic view of an array camera module in accordance withthe fifteenth preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 30 is a schematic view of an array camera module in accordance withthe sixteenth preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 31 is a schematic view showing a method of manufacturing the lensin accordance with the above-mentioned preferred embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIG. 32 is a schematic view of an application of the camera module inaccordance with the above-mentioned preferred embodiments of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

The following description is presented to disclose the invention toenable those skilled in the art to practice the present invention. Thepreferred embodiments in the following description are by way of exampleonly, and other obvious modifications will occur to those skilled in theart. The basic principles of the present invention as defined in thefollowing description may be applied to other embodiments,modifications, improvements, equivalents, and other embodiments withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

It should be understood by those skilled in the art that in thedisclosure of the present invention, the orientation or positionalrelationship indicated by the terms “longitudinal”, “transverse”,“upper”, “lower”, “front”, “back”, “left”, “right”, “upright”,“horizontal”, “top”, “bottom”, “inside”, “outside”, etc. is based on theorientation or positional relationship shown in the figures, which ismerely for convenience of description of the present invention, and doesnot indicate or imply that the mentioned apparatus or element must havea particular orientation or be constructed and operated in a particularorientation. Therefore, the above-mentioned terms are not to beconstrued as limiting the present invention.

It should be understood that the term “a” is understood to mean “atleast one” or “one or more”, that is, in one embodiment, the number ofelements may be one, and in other embodiments, the number of elementsmay be multiple, and the term “a” cannot be construed as limiting thequantity.

With the development of smart electronic devices, the requirements forcamera modules are becoming higher and higher. For example, smart phonesare developing toward the direction of ultra-thin, large screen,borderless, and high image quality. As can be seen from the foregoing, acamera module is composed of different components. With the developmentof high speed, the simplification of the components almost reaches theultimate level, and for further development, in addition to studyingpossible improvements of each component, the improved matchingrelationship between the respective components also needs to beconsidered. According to the present invention, there is provided alens, which can improve the lens of the camera module to reduce its bodyshape while ensuring the optical imaging quality. Further, thestructures of the lens and the remaining components such as aphotosensitive assembly can be matched to each other, so that theoverall size of the camera module can be reduced, and its external shapeis more consistent, which is more suitable for being mounted in anelectronic device.

A camera module 100 according to this preferred embodiment of thepresent invention is as shown in FIGS. 2 to 6 . The camera module 100includes a lens 10 and a photosensitive assembly 30, wherein the lens 10is in the photosensitive path of the photosensitive assembly 30, andwherein the lens 10 is an ultra-narrow lens 10, and may also be referredto as an edge-cut lens 10.

Further, in this embodiment of the present invention, the shape of thelens 10 is matched with the shape of the photosensitive assembly 30, sothat the camera module 100 becomes an ultra-narrow camera module 100.

Specifically, the lens 10 includes at least one edge-cut lens sheet andan edge-cut lens barrel 12, wherein the edge-cut lens sheet is mountedin the edge-cut lens barrel 12. At least a portion of a circular edge ofthe edge-cut lens sheet is removed, thereby reducing the body shape ofthe edge-cut lens sheet relative to a round shape and providing theadvantage of reducing stray light. Further, at least a portion of thecircular edge of the edge-cut lens barrel 12 is removed relative to around lens barrel, so that the overall body shape of the lens 10 isreduced, and the lens 10 and the edge-cut shape are more suitable formatching with other components. The edge-cut of the edge-cut lens sheetis relative to a circular edge of a round lens sheet, that is, at leasta portion of the circular edge of the round lens sheet is removed orreplaced so that the edge of the round lens sheet is not a completecircle.

Further, the lens 10 includes a plurality of lens sheets 11 including atleast one edge-cut lens sheet and at least one round lens sheet. Thenumber of edge-cut lens sheets and the position of the edge-cut lenssheets may be selected as desired. The round lens sheet and the edge-cutlens sheet are separately mounted in the edge-cut lens barrel.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the lens 10 composed offour lens sheets 11 is schematically explained as an example, and inother embodiments of the present invention, the number of the lenssheets 11 may be another number such as 2, 3, 5 and more. In the lens 10having different number of lens sheets, the shape of corresponding lenssheets 11 may also be designed according to specific needs, so that atleast one of the lens sheets 11 is the edge-cut lens sheet.

More specifically, in this embodiment of the present invention and asshown in the accompanying drawings, one of the lens sheets 11 is anedge-cut lens sheet, the remaining three lens sheets are round lenssheets, and the edge-cut lens sheet is at the bottommost.

Of course, in other embodiments of the present invention, the number ofthe edge-cut lens sheets may be another number such as 2, 3 and 4. Theposition of the edge-cut lens sheet among the four lens sheets 11 mayalso be selected as desired, and it should be understood by thoseskilled in the art that the present invention is not limited in thisaspect.

In this embodiment and the accompanying drawings of the presentinvention, the four lens sheets 11 of the lens 10 are a first lens sheet111, a second lens sheet 112, a third lens sheet 113, and a fourth lenssheet 114, respectively, from an object side to an image side. Also, thebody shapes of the four lens sheets 11 increase sequentially from theobject side to the image side. That is, the closer the lens sheet 11 ofthe lens 10 is to the photosensitive assembly 30, the larger its bodyshape is. For example, in this embodiment, the fourth lens sheet 114 hasthe largest body shape. It is worth mentioning that each of the lenssheets 11 is mounted in the edge-cut lens barrel 12, and in the casewhere the axial dimension of the edge-cut lens barrel 12 is the same,the overall volume of the lens 10 is decided by the lens sheet 11 havingthe largest body shape. In this embodiment of the present invention,since the largest lens sheet 11, namely, the fourth lens sheet 114 is anedge-cut lens sheet, the shape of the edge-cut lens barrel 12 changeswith it, and the overall body shape of the lens 10 is reduced. That is,in this embodiment, the first lens sheet 111, the second lens sheet 112,the third lens sheet 113 are round lens sheets, and the fourth lenssheet 114 is the edge-cut lens sheet. Of course, in other embodiments ofthe present invention, other lens sheet 11 may be selected to perform anedge-cut design instead of the lens sheet 11 having the largest bodyshape, and the present invention is not limited in this aspect.

It is worth mentioning that although in this embodiment of the presentinvention, it is exemplified that the shapes of the four lens sheets 11increase sequentially, but in other embodiments of the presentinvention, each of the lens sheets 11 may be arranged in other shapearrangement, for example, an arrangement of the same size, such as thelens sheets having the same size in the middle, the smallest lens sheetat the front end, and the largest lens sheet at the bottom, or thesmallest lens sheet at the front end and all the other lens sheetshaving the same size at the rear end. In the present invention, it ispreferred that the bottom lens sheet is the largest.

The photosensitive assembly 30 includes a photosensitive chip 31,wherein the lens sheet 11 of the edge-cut design is designed to beedge-cut according to the shape and size of the photosensitive chip 31.That is, the design of the edge-cut lens sheet is referenced by thephotosensitive chip 31 to ensure the imaging quality of the cameramodule 100. In particular, in some embodiments, the design of theedge-cut lens sheet is designed with the shape and size of aphotosensitive region of the photosensitive chip 31.

In order to reduce the body shape of the lens 10, an edge-cut design isperformed. Preferably, the body shape of the largest lens sheet 11 inthe lens 10, namely, the body shape of the fourth lens sheet 114 closestto the image side, is reduced according to the size of thephotosensitive chip 31. In particular, in some embodiments, the fourthlens sheet 114 is reduced to a size corresponding to the photosensitivechip 31.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 , it is worth mentioning that the edge-cutlens sheet of the lens 10 further includes at least one chord edge, thatis, the fourth lens sheet 114 includes a chord edge 1141. The chord edge1141 of the fourth lens sheet 114 closest to the image side causes acorresponding reduction in the body shape of the fourth lens sheet 114relative to a complete round lens sheet. That is, the body shape of thefourth lens sheet 114 with the chord edge 1141 is smaller than the bodyshape of a corresponding round lens sheet. It should be noted that, in apreferred embodiment of the present invention, the chord edge 1141 ofthe fourth lens sheet 114 is an edge portion formed by a line segmentother than the original circular edge in a round cross-sectional view ofthe fourth lens sheet 114. That is, the fourth lens sheet 114 of thelens 10 further includes at least one circular edge 1142. It should benoted herein that the chord edge 1141 of the fourth lens sheet 114 maybe not only a straight line segment, but also an arc line segment or anyline segment that matches with the photosensitive chip 31 of thephotosensitive assembly 30. According to a complete round lens sheet,the chord edge 1141 may also be understood as an edge portion of thelens sheet 11 that is missing relative to a complete circle. Then, thechord edge 1141 plays a key function in reducing the body shape of thefourth lens sheet 114 and that of the lens 10.

In other words, the edge of the edge-cut lens sheet is composed of atleast two line segments having different curvatures adjacently connectedto each other so that the edge of the edge-cut lens sheet 11 is not acomplete circle. That is, the chord edge 1141 and the circular edge 1142are adjacently connected to each other to form an edge of the lens sheet11, and the chord edge 1141 and the circular edge 1142 have differentcurvatures. Preferably, the curvature of the chord edge 1141 is 0, thatis, a straight line segment, and the curvature of the circular edge 1142is greater than 0, namely, an arc line segment.

Then, a schematic view of the overall lens sheet 11 is as shown in FIG.5 . In the present preferred embodiment, in the lens 10 composed of thefour lens sheets 11, the fourth lens sheet 114 closest to the image sidehas one chord edge 1141 and one circular edges 1142. The lens sheet 11,the second lens sheet 112, and the third lens sheet 113 each have onecircular edge 1142. That is, the first lens sheet 11, the second lenssheet 112, and the third lens sheet 113 are round lens sheets, and thefourth lens sheet 114 is an edge-cut lens sheet of which one side isremoved.

It is worth mentioning that, although in this embodiment of the presentinvention, the fourth lens sheet 114 composed of one chord edge 1141 andone circular edge 1142 is taken as an example to explain the structuraldesign of the edge-cut lens sheet, in other embodiments of the presentinvention, the number and shape, layout, and the like of the chord edge1141 and the circular edge 1142 may be other than those, and the presentinvention is not limited in this aspect. For example, there may be 2chord edges 1141 and 2 circular edges 1142, 3 chord edges 1141 and 3circular edges 1142, or 4 chord edges 1141 and 4 circular edges 1142,etc. The size ratio and positions of the chord edge 1141 and thecircular edge 1142 can be set according to different requirements, suchas a symmetric arrangement, an asymmetric arrangement, an arrangementaccording to a predetermined ratio, etc., and the present invention isnot limited in this aspect.

Further, the lens 10 includes at least one optical path element 13disposed between two adjacent lens sheets 11 to form a predeterminedlight passage between the respective lens sheet 11. By way of examplebut not limitation, the optical path element 13 can be a gasket, a shim,a coating, or the like. The outer edge shape of the optical path element13 is consistent with the outer shape of the lens sheet 11 to facilitateblocking of the corresponding edge of the lens sheet 11. The lens sheet11 and the optical path elements 13 are each disposed sequentially atintervals inside the edge-cut lens barrel 12.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the number of the lenssheet 11 is 4, and correspondingly, the number of the optical pathelements 13 is 3, which are a first optical path element 131, a secondoptical path element 132 and a third optical path element 133,respectively. The first optical path element 131 is disposed between thefirst lens sheet 111 and the second lens sheet 112, the outer shape ofthe first optical path element 131 is consistent with the outer shape ofthe second lens sheet 112, the second optical path element 13 isdisposed between the second lens sheet 112 and the third lens sheet 113,and the outer shape of the second optical path element 13 is consistentwith the outer shape of the third lens sheet 113. The third optical pathelement 13 is disposed between the third lens sheet 113 and the fourthlens sheet 114, and the outer shape of the third optical path element 13is consistent with the outer shape of the fourth lens sheet 114. Thatis, in this embodiment, the first optical path element 131 and thesecond optical path element 132 are optical path elements having roundouter shapes, and the third optical path element 133 is an edge-cutoptical path element, namely, with at least one straight edge and atleast one arc edge.

Preferably, each of the lens sheets 11 is integrally formed in a processof manufacturing. It should be understood by those skilled in the artthat the body shape of the lens sheet 11 may preferably be one-shotmolded by injection molding. Moreover, with respect to the round shapeof the circular edge 1142, the time and cost of the chord edge 1141spent in the processing and design of the mold may be reduced, and thematerial used is remarkably reduced. According to the design, the lenssheet 11 having a desired shape can be obtained after injection moldingby changing the shape of the injection molding space of the mold.Further, the optical path element 13 and the edge-cut lens barrel 12used for assembly both need to be obtained by injection molding after amold is customized according to this shape. When assembling, the chordedge 1141 has a certain guiding effect, and the lens sheet 11 may bepositioned according to the position of the chord edge 1141.

More specifically, the clear aperture of the lens 10 is decided by thesmallest lens sheet 11 and the optical path element 13. That is, a largeportion of the lens sheet 11 closest to the image side as in FIG. 5 hasa less effect on imaging. When the chord edge 1141 is employed, as shownin FIG. 6 , not only the body shapes of the lens sheet 11 and the lens10 are reduced, but also the utilization ratio of the lens sheet 11closest to the image side is improved. In the present preferredembodiment, the fourth lens sheet 114 closest to the image side is takenas an example. Under the action of the optical path element 13, thefourth lens sheet 114 correspondingly forms an imaging region 1143 and anon-imaging region 1144, wherein the imaging region 1143 corresponds tothe photosensitive chip 31 of the photosensitive assembly 30, and is amain region where light is received, and wherein the non-imaging region1144 blocks light from passing through, and a small amount of lightpassing through it does not perform a photosensitive action. That is,the imaging region 1143 of the lens sheet 11 provides a basis for a mainimaging function of the camera module 100.

It is worth mentioning that the function of the optical path element 13is to block the light of the edge of each of the lens sheets 11 to forma predetermined optical path, and to reduce stray light in theperiphery. In an actual production process, the optical path element 13is not completely opaque and the edge light can not be completelyblocked. That is, the non-imaging region 1144 has less light passingthrough relative to the imaging region 1143 of the lens 1. The lightpassing through the non-imaging region 1144 is reflected at otherportions of the photosensitive assembly 30, such as a base 33, a circuitboard 32, an electrical connection element 313, etc., as subsequentlyproposed. The reflected light is received by the photosensitive chip 31,namely, becoming stray light that affects the image quality of thephotosensitive chip 31. In the present invention, the fourth lens sheet114 having the chord edge 1141 is employed. As shown in FIG. 6 , thelight intensity of the non-imaging region 1144 of the fourth lens sheet114 may be weakened, and the formed stray light may also be reduced. Theimaging effect of the camera module 100 will be improved. From theviewpoint of the imaging effect, a gradually weakened edge is formed inthe imaging circle of the lens 10. That is, the edge-cut design of thelens sheet 11 causes the light intensity of a portion of the non-imagingregion 1144 to be weakened, the influence of stray light is reduced, andthe imaging effect is not affected or less affected. The chord edge 1141of the lens sheet 11 does not affect the imaging region 1143, and thefunction of the camera module 100 will also be ensured to be complete.

It is worth mentioning that the chord edge 1141 of the lens sheet 11causes the imaging region 1143 not to lose a portion correspondingly,but correspondingly an edge with gradually weakened brightness andimaging quality appears. In this way, the occupation ratio of thenon-imaging region 1144 is reduced, and the effective imaging region1143 is concentrated to a smaller local portion corresponding to thephotosensitive chip 31. On the premise that no or less change in theimage quality is made, the body shape of the lens sheet 11 is reduced,while the flux of light that is irradiated onto the non-imaging region1144 is reduced, directly reducing the source of stray light. Inaddition, it is conceivable that in some embodiments, the chord edge1141 of the lens sheet 11 should be consistent with the periphery of thephotosensitive chip 31 of the photosensitive assembly 30, which greatlyreduces the body shaped of the lens sheet 11 and the lens 10. In thepreferred embodiment, it is contemplated that the fourth lens sheet 114closest to the image side further requires a certain margin whenassembling, and thus there is also a certain non-imaging region 1144.

In the present preferred embodiment, the optical path element 13 and theedge-cut lens barrel 12 need to be designed and manufactured accordingto the body shape of the lens sheet 11. Preferably, the optical pathelement 13 and the edge-cut lens barrel 12 are obtained by injectionmolding after a mold is customized.

Specifically, the edge-cut lens barrel 12 further includes at least onechord edge portion 121 and at least one circular edge portion 122, whichcorrespond to the chord edge 1141 and the circular edge 1142 of theedge-cut lens sheet, respectively. In the present preferred embodiment,the chord edge 1141 is linear, and the chord edge portion 121 iscorrespondingly linear. Like the manufacture of the chord edge 1141 ofthe lens sheet 11, the time and cost of the linear chord edge portion121 spent in the processing and design of the device and the mold arereduced relative to the circular arc edge. In this way, the lens 10, theedge-cut lens barrel 12, a subsequently proposed lens carrying element20, and the photosensitive assembly 30 in the present preferredembodiment are all in a straight or square body shape, and areconsistent with each other in the design and manufacturing process, sothat the production difficulty is decreased, and the correspondingprocessing yield can be greatly improved.

The number and position of the chord edge portion 121 of the edge-cutlens barrel 12 correspond to those of the chord edge 1141 of theedge-cut lens sheet, and when the number of the chord edges 1141 isanother number, the position, shape and number of the chord edge portion121 also change accordingly.

More specifically, the chord edge portion 121 of the edge-cut lensbarrel 12 is a flat surface, and the circular edge portion 122 of theedge-cut lens barrel 12 is a curved surface. That is, it can be seenfrom the top view of the edge-cut lens barrel 12 that the top view ofthe edge-cut lens barrel 12 is a closed curve composed of a circular arcand a straight line, and at this time, the shape of the lens barrel 12is consistent with the shape of the top view of the fourth lens sheet114. It is worth mentioning that since the edge-cut lens barrel 12 has acertain wall thickness, the consistency here does not mean that thesizes are completely identical. Of course, in other embodiments of thepresent invention, the number, position, and layout of the chord edgeportion 121 and the circular edge portion 122 of the edge-cut lensbarrel 12 may be other than these, such as 2 chord edge portions 121 and2 circular edge portions 122, 3 chord edge portions 121 and 3 circularedge portions 122, 4 chord edge portions 121 and 4 circular edgeportions 122, or the like. The size ratio and positions of the chordedge portion 121 and the circular edge portion 122 can be set accordingto different requirements, such as a symmetric arrangement, anasymmetric arrangement, an arrangement according to a predeterminedratio, etc., and the present invention is not limited in this aspect. Itis worth mentioning that the chord edge 1141 of the edge-cut lens sheetcorresponds to the chord edge portion 121 of the edge-cut lens barrel12, the circular edge 1142 of the edge-cut lens sheet corresponds to thecircular edge portion 122 of the edge-cut lens barrel 12 so that therelative position of the lens sheet 11 and the edge-cut lens barrel 12is determined. Therefore, the installation of the lens sheet 11 is moreconvenient, which is helpful to ensure the consistency of the lightpath. That is, the edge-cut design of the lens sheet 11 facilitates thepositioning of the lens sheet 11, whereas in the conventional round lenssheet and round lens barrel, there is no defined relative positionbetween the lens sheet and the barrel.

It should be particularly noted that the arrangement position of thechord edge portion 121 of the edge-cut lens barrel 12 may be matchedwith the photosensitive assembly 30, so that the overall edge of thecamera module 100 is reduced, and this advantage will be explained laterin detail.

The camera module 100 includes a filter element 40 for filtering lightpassing through the lens 10. The filter element 40 is, for example, butnot limited to, an infrared cut-off filter, a blue glass filter, awafer-level infrared cut-off filter, a whole transparent sheet, and avisible light filter. The filter element 40 is mounted to asupplementary support member 332 (subsequently proposed) located in thelight passage of the photosensitive chip 31.

The camera module 100 further includes a lens carrying element 20, thelens 10 is mounted on the lens carrying element 20, and the lenscarrying element 20 is mounted on the base 33 so that the lens 10 is inthe photosensitive path of the photosensitive chip 31. For example, thelens carrying element 20 may be implemented as a lens fixing componentor a driving component to form a fixed focus camera module 100 or amoving focus camera module 100, respectively. The driving component is,for example, but not limited to, a piezoelectric motor, or a voice coilmotor. When the lens carrying element 20 is implemented as a drivingcomponent, the lens carrying element 20 is electrically connected to thephotosensitive assembly 30, such as by a pin, a lead or the like.

Further, according to this embodiment of the present invention, thephotosensitive assembly 30 further includes a circuit board 32 and abase 33, the photosensitive chip 31 is electrically connected to thecircuit board 32, and the base 33 is disposed on the circuit board 32 toprovide a mounting position and form a back focus required by the cameramodule 100.

Further, the base 33 is integrally connected to the circuit board 32.The base 33 includes a base main body 331 and has a light window 333.The light window 333 provides a light passage for the photosensitivechip 31. In other words, the photosensitive chip 31 is located insidethe light window 333, and the photosensitive path of the photosensitivechip 31 is consistent with the direction of the light window 333.

The circuit board 32 includes a circuit board main body 321 and at leastone electronic element 322. The photosensitive chip 31 is electricallyconnected to the circuit board main body 321 to facilitate transmittingphotosensitive information to the circuit board 32. The lens 10 is inthe photosensitive path of the photosensitive chip 31, so that thephotosensitive chip 31 receives light and performs light sensing. Inparticular, in some embodiments, the photosensitive chip 31 may bedisposed on the circuit board main body 321 through a surface mounttechnology (SMT), and be electrically connected to the circuit boardmain body 321 through at least one electrical connection element 313.The electrical connection element 313 is, for example, but not limitedto, a gold wire, a silver wire, a copper wire, an aluminum wire, asolder, a conductive paste, or the like.

The electronic element 322 is disposed on the circuit board main body321. By way of example but not limitation, the electronic element 322 ismounted on the circuit board main body 321 by the SMT technology. Theelectronic element 322 includes, but is not limited to, a resistor, acapacitor, a driving mechanism, or the like.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the base 33 is integrallypackaged in the circuit board main body 321 and is integrally enclosedaround the electronic element 322, thereby preventing dust and debrisfrom attaching on the photosensor chip 31 to contaminate the electronicelement 322 and affect the imaging effect similarly to the conventionalcamera module 100. It can be understood that, in another modifiedembodiment, it is also possible that the electronic element 322 isburied in the circuit board main body 321, that is, the electronicelement 322 may not be exposed outside. It is worth mentioning thatalthough in some embodiments, the electronic element 322 is disposedaround the photosensitive chip 31, the arrangement position of theelectronic element 322 can be designed and arranged as desired indifferent embodiments. For example, it is concentrated on one side orboth sides, or disposed on the back surface of the circuit board mainbody 321 or the like, and may match with the arrangement position of thephotosensitive chip 31 and the arrangement position of the electricalconnection element 313 and the shape of the supplementary support member332 subsequently proposed to more rationally utilize the spatialposition on the circuit board main body 321 and reduce the size of thecamera module 100 as much as possible.

The circuit board main body 321 of the circuit board 32 may be a PCBhard board, a PCB soft board, a Rigid-flex board, a ceramic circuitboard main body 321 or the like. It is worth mentioning that, in thispreferred embodiment of the present invention, since the base main body331 can completely encapsulate the electronic elements 322, theelectronic elements 322 may not be buried in the circuit board main body321, and the board main body 321 is only used to form a conduction line,so that the finally obtained photosensitive assembly 30 can be madesmaller in thickness.

Further, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the basemain body 331 is disposed on the circuit board 32 by integral forming,such as molding, thereby stably fixing the base 33 and the circuit board32 and reducing additional mounting and fixing processes. For example,the glue bonding process is reduced, the connection is more stable, theheight of the glue connection is omitted, and the height of the unit ofthe camera module 100 is lowered.

For example, the base 33 may be disposed on the circuit board 32 bymeans of integral forming using a mold, such as being molded on acircuit board, which is different from the conventional COB (Chip OnBoard) manner. By integral forming using a mold, the molding shape andthe flatness of the surface can be better controlled, for example, sothat the base main body 331 has a better flatness, thereby provides aflat mounting condition for mounted components such as the lens carryingelement 20 and the filter element 40, which is helpful to improve theoptical axis consistency of the camera module 100. By the SMTtechnology, for example, the electronic elements 322 may each be mountedat an interval from each other on an edge region of the circuit board32, e.g. on the outside of the photosensitive chip 31. It is worthmentioning that each of the electronic elements 322 may be located onthe same side or opposite sides of the circuit board 32. For example, inone specific example, the photosensitive element 31 and each of theelectronic elements 322 may be located on the same side of the circuitboard 32, and the photosensitive element 31 is mounted to the chipmounting region of the circuit board 32. The electronic elements 322 areeach mounted at an interval from each other on the edge region of thecircuit board 32. The base main body 331 encapsulates each of theelectronic elements 322 after being formed to isolate adjacentelectronic elements 322 and isolate the electronic elements 322 from thephotosensitive chip 31 by means of the base main body 331.

In the camera module 100 of the present invention, the way each of theelectronic elements 322 is encapsulated by the base main body 331 afterbeing formed has many advantages. Firstly, the base main body 331encapsulates each of the electronic elements 322 so that the mutualinterference between the adjacent electronic elements 322 does notoccur. Even when the distance between adjacent electronic elements 322is relatively close, the imaging quality of the camera module 100 can beensured. In this way, a larger number of the electronic elements 322 canbe mounted on the circuit board 32 with a small area, thereby making thestructure of camera module 100 more compact, which is advantageous toimprove the imaging quality of the camera module 100 on the basis ofcontrolling the dimension of the camera module 100. Secondly, the basemain body 331 encapsulates each of the electronic elements 322, so thatthere is no need to reserve a safety distance between the base main body331 and each of the electronic elements 322, whether in the horizontaldirection or in the height direction, to enable the reduction of thesize of the camera module 100. Thirdly, the base main body 331encapsulates each of the electronic elements 322 so that no glue is usedfor connection and leveling between the base main body 331 and thecircuit board 32, which is advantageous to reduce the height dimensionof the camera module 100. Fourthly, the base main body 331 encapsulateseach of the electronic elements 322, and in the process of subsequentlytransporting and assembling the camera module 100 to form the cameramodule 100, the base main body 331 can prevent the electronic element322 from shaking and falling off, which is advantageous to ensure thestructural stability of the camera module 100. Fifthly, the base mainbody 331 encapsulates each of the electronic elements 322, and in theprocess of subsequently transporting and assembling the camera module100 to form the camera module 100, the base main body 331 can preventeach of the electronic elements 322 from being contaminated bycontaminants to ensure the image quality of the camera module 100.Sixthly, the base main body 331 encapsulates the electronic element 322and then can isolate the electronic element 322 from the air. By thisway, the oxidation rate of the metal portion of the electronic element322 can be slowed down, which is advantageous to improve theenvironmental stability of the electronic element 322 and the cameramodule 100.

It is worth mentioning that the base main body 331 is integrally formedon the circuit board main body 321 and encapsulates the electronicelement 322 of the circuit board 32 so that the base main body 331 andthe circuit board main body 321 have a larger connecting area, and theconnection is more stable, and they have a better structural strength bymeans of integral forming. Therefore, the base main body 331 can firmlyand reliably support and fix the components of the camera module 100,thereby ensuring the yield of the product.

It is also worth mentioning that for the unit of high-pixel cameramodule 100, the number of the lens sheets 11 of the lens 10 isincreasing, for example, up to 4p, up, 6p or more. When the number ofthe lens sheets 11 of the lens 10 increases, it is necessary to meet therequirements of optical performance at the same time, such as providingsufficient back focus to prevent the filter element 40 from affectingthe imaging quality of the camera module 100, such as the occurrence ofblack spots, blurred edges and the like on the image. In an embodimentaccording to the present invention, the filter element 40 is mounted onthe integrally formed base 33, so that the filter element 40 can beprovided with a flat mounting condition and the height position at whichthe filter element 40 is mounted can be effectively controlled throughthe height of the base 33.

The photosensitive chip 31 has a photosensitive region 311 forperforming a photosensitive function, and a non-photosensitive region312312 for electrically connecting to the circuit board 32. In thisembodiment of the present invention, the non-photosensitive region 312is electrically connected to the circuit board 32 through the electricalconnection element 313.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the photosensitive chip 31is located inside the base main body 331, that is, it is not integrallypackaged by the base main body 331. In this embodiment of the presentinvention, the photosensitive chip 31 needs to be mounted on the circuitboard 32, for example, by glue bonding, so that the photosensitive chip31 is stably fixed. Thereafter, the photosensitive chip 31 iselectrically connected to the circuit board 32 through the electricalconnection element 313, for example, by means of a gold wire. Of course,in other embodiments of the present invention, the way thephotosensitive chip 31 is disposed on the circuit board 32 may beperformed by other means, such as embedding, sinking, FC (Flip Chip),and the like. It should be understood by those skilled in the art thatthe connection and mounting manner of the photosensitive chip 31 and thecircuit board 32 are not limiting to the present invention.

More specifically, in this embodiment of the present invention, the base33 further includes a supplementary support member 332 that issupplemented to the base main body 331 to form the closed light window333.

The base main body 331 has a mounting groove 3311 communicating with thelight window 333. The supplementary support member 332 is mounted in themounting groove 3311 to provide a mounting position for the filterelement 40.

Further, the base main body 331 has at least one notch 3312. The notch3312 communicates with the optical window 333 and the outside, and thenotch 3312 is supplemented by the supplementary support member 332,thereby forming the light window 333 whose side is closed.

In other words, in such an embodiment, the base main body 331 is not aclosed structure, but an open structure, and the base main body 331 isclosed by supplementation of the supplementary support member 332. Ofcourse, in other embodiments of the present invention, the base mainbody 331 may also be a closed structure.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the notch 3312 extendsdownwardly to the circuit board body 321. The supplementary supportmember 332 includes at least one support member body 3321 and anextension leg 3322 extending integrally from the support member body3321 downwardly to the circuit board main body 321 to close the notch3312. By way of example but not limitation, the extension legs 3322 areconnected to the circuit board body 321 and/or the base main body 331 byadhesive bonding. The support member body 3321 is mounted in themounting groove 3311.

It is worth mentioning that, in this embodiment of the presentinvention, the chord edge portion 121 of the edge-cut lens barrel 12corresponds to the position of the extension leg 3322 of thesupplementary support member 332, so that the edge on the direction inwhich the extension leg 3322 are located may be narrower. In thisembodiment, the electronic element 322 can be concentrated and disposedon a side where the base main body 331 is located, such as a sideopposite the extension leg 3322, so that there is no need to dispose theelectronic element 322 on the side on which the extension leg 3322 islocated, and it is not necessary to reserve the mounting position of theelectronic element 322. That is, the photosensitive chip 31 is closer tothe edge of the circuit board main body 321, and since the extension leg3322 may be formed by other means, such as injection molding, thethickness of the extension leg 3322 may be smaller relative to the wallthickness of the base main body 331, and the chord edge portion 121 ofthe edge-cut lens barrel 12 is also a narrowing direction, so that thetwo match with each other, and thus the overall size of the cameramodule 100 is smaller.

Of course, as can be seen from the above, compared to the manner of theconventional COB technology, the base 33 can take many advantages in theintegral forming manner, including the advantage of making the size ofthe base 33 inwardly reduced. That is, in the case of the absence of thesupplementary support member 332, the lens 10 matches with the base 33having a reduced volume, and the size of the camera module 100 can stillbe reduced.

On the other hand, for the manner of integral forming, the size of thebase 33 is reduced, and the lens 10 and/or the lens carrying element 20need to be mounted to the base 33. Therefore, the base 33 needs toprovide an enough mounting area, and thus the size of the base 33 cannotbe too small compared to the conventional larger-sized lens 10, that is,the miniaturized size of the base 33 is limited by the size of theconventional lens 10. In the present invention, the edge-cut design ofthe lens 10 causes the overall size of the lens 10 to be reduced, andthe mounting size requirement of the base 33 is reduced, so that thebase 33 can be further miniaturized. It can be seen that the lens 10 andthe base 33 or the photosensitive assembly 30 match with each other indesign, so that the overall size of the camera module 100 can be furtherminiaturized, while the effect achieved by separately miniaturizing thelens 10 or separately miniaturizing the photosensitive assembly 30 is abit worse.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the base main body 331 hasan inner side wall having an inclined angle to facilitate moldmanufacturing and reduce stray light reflected to the photosensitivechip 31. For example, when the side wall is at a vertical angle, theincident angle of light reaching the base main body 331 is large, sothat the reflection angle of the light is large, and it is relativelyeasy to reflect toward the inside, namely, reflecting toward theposition of the photosensitive chip 31. When the inner side wall isinclined, the incident angle of the light is small, and for the lightincident in the same direction, the direction of the reflected light isoffset from the position of the photosensitive chip 31, so that theinclined arrangement is helpful to reduce the interference of straylight. The magnitude of the inclination angle can be set as demanded. Ofcourse, in some embodiments, the inner side wall of the base main body331 may be vertically disposed, that is, the inclination angle is notpresent.

Different modified implementations of the lens 10 in accordance with thefirst preferred embodiment of the present invention are as shown inFIGS. 7 to 9 . In these implementations, it is schematically showed thatthe chord edge 1141 and the circular edge 1142 of the edge-cut lenssheet 11 are changed.

For example, in the implementation shown in FIG. 7 , the edge-cut lenssheet of the lens 10, namely, the fourth lens sheet 114, includes twochord edges 1141 and two circular edges 1142. That is, the edge-cut lenssheet is narrowed at two edge positions relative to a round lens sheet.In particular, the two chord edges 1141 may be symmetricallydistributed.

Correspondingly, the edge-cut lens barrel 12 includes two chord edgeportions 121 and two circular edge portions 122. In particular, the twochord edge portions 121 are symmetrically disposed. Compared to theconventional round lens barrel, the edge-cut lens barrel 12 is designedto be edge-cut in two directions, so that the two positions of the lens10 are narrowed.

In particular, the curvature of the two chord edges 1141 of the fourthlens sheet 114 is zero, and the curvature of the two circular edges 1142is greater than 0. That is, the two chord edges 1141 are straight lines,and the two circular edged 1142 are circular arc lines.

Further, the outer edges of the chord edge portion 121 and the circularedge portion 122 of the edge-cut lens barrel 12 correspond to the chordedge 1141 and the circular edge 1142, respectively.

In the implementation shown in FIG. 8 , the edge-cut lens sheet of thelens 10, namely, the fourth lens sheet 114, includes three chord edges1141 and three circular edges 1142. That is, the edge-cut lens sheet isnarrowed at three edge positions relative to a round lens sheet. Inparticular, the three chord edges 1141 may be symmetrically distributed.

Correspondingly, the edge-cut lens barrel 12 includes three chord edgeportions 121 and three circular edge portions 122. In particular, thethree chord edge portions 121 are symmetrically disposed. Compared tothe conventional round lens barrel, the edge-cut lens barrel 12 isdesigned to be edge-cut in three directions, so that the three positionsof the lens 10 are narrowed.

In particular, the curvature of the three chord edges 1141 of the fourthlens sheet 114 is zero, and the curvature of the three circular edges1142 is greater than 0. That is, the three chord edges 1141 are straightlines, and the three circular edged 1142 are circular arc lines.

Further, the outer edges of the chord edge portion 121 and the circularedge portion 122 of the edge-cut lens barrel 12 correspond to the chordedge 1141 and the circular edge 1142, respectively.

In the implementation shown in FIG. 9 , the edge-cut lens sheet of thelens 10, namely, the fourth lens sheet 114, includes four chord edges1141 and four circular edges 1142. That is, the edge-cut lens sheet isnarrowed at four edge positions relative to a round lens sheet. Inparticular, the four chord edges 1141 may be symmetrically distributed.

Correspondingly, the edge-cut lens barrel 12 includes four chord edgeportions 121 and four circular edge portions 122. In particular, thefour chord edge portions 121 are symmetrically disposed. Compared to theconventional round lens barrel, the edge-cut lens barrel 12 is designedto be edge-cut in four directions, so that the four positions of thelens 10 are narrowed.

In particular, the curvature of the four chord edges 1141 of the fourthlens sheet 114 is zero, and the curvature of the four circular edges1142 is greater than 0. That is, the four chord edges 1141 are straightlines, and the four circular edged 1142 are circular arc lines.

Further, the outer edges of the chord edge portion 121 and the circularedge portion 122 of the edge-cut lens barrel 12 correspond to the chordedge 1141 and the circular edge 1142, respectively.

Different modified implementations of the lens 10 in accordance with thefirst preferred embodiment of the present invention are as shown inFIGS. 10 and 11 . In these implementations, it is schematically showedthat the number of the edge-cut lens sheets in the lens 10 may bechanged.

In the implementation shown in FIG. 10 , two lens sheets 11 in the lens10 are edge-cut. As shown in the figure, they are a third lens sheet 113and a fourth lens sheet 114, respectively, and the third lens sheet 113and the fourth lens sheet 114 each include a chord edge 1141 and acircular edge 1142. Of course, in other embodiments of the presentinvention, the two edge-cut lens sheets 11 may also be any other twolens sheets 11. The number of the chord edges 1141 and the number of thecircular edges 1142 may also be other numbers, such as the numbers shownin FIGS. 7 to 9 . Correspondingly, the inner side shape of the edge-cutlens barrel 12 changes according to the shape of the lens sheets 11.

In the implementation shown in FIG. 11 , three lens sheets 11 in thelens 10 are edge-cut. As shown in the figure, they are a second lenssheet 112, a third lens sheet 113 and a fourth lens sheet 114,respectively, and the second lens sheet 112, the third lens sheet 113and the fourth lens sheet 114 each include a chord edge 1141 and acircular edge 1142. Of course, in other embodiments of the presentinvention, the three edge-cut lens sheets 11 may also be any other threelens sheets 11. The number of the chord edges 1141 and the number of thecircular edges 1142 may also be other numbers, such as the numbers shownin FIGS. 7 to 9 . Correspondingly, the inner side shape of the edge-cutlens barrel 12 changes according to the shape of each of the lens sheets11.

In the first preferred embodiment described above, the lens 10 may beattached to the lens carrying element 20 by adhesive bonding, and inparticular, the edge-cut lens barrel 12 is externally flat without athreaded structure. As shown in FIG. 12 , in another modifiedimplementation of the camera module 100 according to the first preferredembodiment of the present invention, the edge-cut lens barrel 12externally has a thread, that is, the lens 10 may be applied to the lenscarrying element 20 having a threaded structure after being edge-cut.

A camera module 100 according to the second preferred embodiment of thepresent invention is as shown in FIG. 13 . In this embodiment, theelectronic element 322 is disposed at the bottom of the circuit boardbody 321. Therefore, it is not necessary to reserve the installationspace of the electronic element 322 on the top of the circuit board mainbody 321, so that the design of the base main body 331 and thesupplementary support member 332 can be more flexible, the requirementsof the circuit board main body 321 are continuously reduced, and thelens 10 can be designed to be edge-cut accordingly, so that the overallsize of the camera module 100 is reduced.

Further, in some implementations, it is showed that the base main body331 integrally packages the electronic element 322 located on the backsurface of the circuit board body 321 so that the illustrated electronicelement 322 is encapsulated.

A camera module 100 according to the third preferred embodiment of thepresent invention is as shown in FIG. 14 . In this way, the electronicelement 322 is disposed at the back surface of the circuit board body321. The base 33 is mounted to the circuit board main body 321 byadhesive bonding, that is, a conventional base can be applied to such anembodiment. However, since it is not necessary to reserve the spatialposition of the electronic element 322, the size of the base 33 can bereduced, and the lens 10 can be designed to be edge-cut, so that thesize of the camera module 100 is reduced.

Further, in some embodiments, a molded base may be provided toencapsulate the electronic element 322. That is, the electronic elementlocated on the back surface of the circuit board main body 321 ispackaged by means of integral forming, thereby making the assemblythereof more stable.

A camera module 100 according to the fourth preferred embodiment of thepresent invention is shown in FIG. 15 . In this way, the base 33includes a base main body 331 and has a light window 333. The base mainbody 331 is integrally formed on the circuit board 32 to form the lightwindow 333. In this embodiment, the base main body 331 is a closedstructure, that is, the base main body 331 does not have a notch 3312.The base main body 331 has a mounting groove 3311, and the filterelement 40 is mounted in the mounting groove 3311.

A camera module 100 according to the fifth preferred embodiment of thepresent invention is shown in FIG. 16 . In this way, the base 33includes a base main body 331 and has a supplementary support member332. The base main body 331 is integrally formed on the circuit board 32to form the light window 333. In this embodiment, the base main body 331is a closed structure, that is, the base main body 331 does not have anotch 3312. The base main body 331 has a mounting groove 3311 in whichthe supplementary support member 332 is mounted, and the filter element40 is mounted to the supplementary base 33. Unlike the first preferredembodiment, in this way, the supplementary support member 332 does nothave the extension leg 3322, that is, the supplementary support member332 is not directly connected to the circuit board 32.

Further, the supplementary support member 332 is sunk in the lightwindow 333 so that the filter element 40 is closer to the photosensitivechip 31, and the back focus of the camera module 100 is reduced.

A schematic view of a camera module 100 in accordance with the sixthpreferred embodiment of the present invention is as shown in FIG. 17 .Unlike the first embodiment, the circuit board main body 321 has asinking region 3211, and the photosensitive chip 31 is sunkenly disposedin the sinking region 3215, to reduce the relative height of thephotosensitive chip 31 and the circuit board main body 321.

The sinking region 3215 may be implemented as a groove or a throughhole. That is, the spaces on both sides of the circuit board main body321 may be made to communicate or not to communicate. When the sinkingregion 3215 is a groove, the photosensitive chip 31 is disposed at thebottom of the groove, and is electrically connected to the circuit boardmain body 321 through the electrical connection element 313. The outerend of the electrical connection element 313 may be electricallyconnected to the bottom of the groove or may be electrically connectedto the outer side of the sinking region 3215, and the present inventionis not limited in this aspect. Further, the top surface of thephotosensitive chip 31 may be consistent with the top surface of thecircuit board main body 321 or higher than the top surface of thecircuit board main body 321 or lower than the top surface of the circuitboard main body 321. That is, the present invention does not limit thesinking depth.

Further, in the figure of this embodiment of the present invention, thesinking region 3215 is a through hole, that is, both sides of thecircuit board 32 communicate through the through hole. The circuit board32 of the camera module 100 includes a bottom plate 323 stacked anddisposed on the bottom of the circuit board main body 321 to support thephotosensitive chip 31 and enhance the structural strength of thecircuit board main body 321. That is, the photosensitive chip 31 is sunkand disposed in the sinking region 3215, and is supported by the bottomplate 323. The photosensitive chip 31 is electrically connected to thecircuit board main body 321 through the electrical connection element313.

In some embodiments, the bottom plate 323 may be a metal plate disposedon the bottom of the circuit board main body 321 by attaching.

A camera module 100 according to the seventh preferred embodiment of thepresent invention is shown in FIG. 18 .

The base 33 of the photosensitive assembly 30 of the camera module 100integrally packages at least a portion of the non-photosensitive region312 of the photosensitive chip 31. In other words, the base 33 packagesthe circuit board 32 and the photosensitive chip 31 by means of integralforming so that the photosensitive chip 31 is stably fixed and theformable region of the base 33 is increased. The base 33 encapsulatesthe electrical connection element 313.

It is worth mentioning that, compared to the above manner in the firstpreferred embodiment described above that the base 33 is only formed onthe circuit board, the manner of molding on the photosensitive chipallows the range in which the base 33 can be integrally formed to beextended to the non-photosensitive region 312 of the photosensitive chip31, thereby increasing the connection area of the bottom portion of thebase 33 without affecting the normal photosensitive operation of thephotosensitive element 31. As a result, the base 33 can be more stablyconnected to the circuit board 32 and the photosensitive element 31, andthe top portion can provide a larger mountable area for othercomponents, such as the lens 10, the lens carrying element 20, etc.Also, the electrical connection element 313 is encapsulated by the base33, thereby avoiding external interference with the electricalconnection element 313, and preventing the electrical connection element313 from oxidizing or being dust contaminated to affect the imagingquality of the camera module 100.

In this implementation, the base 33 includes a support element 334 forsupporting the mold in the manufacturing process to prevent the circuitboard or the photosensitive element 31 from being damaged. That is, inthe manufacturing process, the manufacturing mold can be abutted againstthe support element 334, so that the mold does not directly contact thecircuit board or the photosensitive element 31, and the molding materialis prevented from overflowing inwardly.

Further, the support element 334 may have a ring structure, which isconsistent with the shape of the base main body 331. The support element334 has elasticity, and is, for example, but not limited to, a gluecoating or a rubber pad.

A camera module 100 according to the eighth preferred embodiment of thepresent invention is shown in FIG. 19 .

In this embodiment, the circuit board main body 321 has a sinking region3215, and the photosensitive chip 31 is sunkenly disposed in the sinkingregion 3215, to reduce the relative height of the photosensitive chip 31and the circuit board main body 321.

The sinking region 3215 may be implemented as a groove or a throughhole. That is, both sides of the circuit board main body 321 may be madeto communicate or not to communicate. When the sinking region 3215 is agroove, the photosensitive chip 31 is disposed at the bottom of thegroove, and is electrically connected to the circuit board main body 321through the electrical connection element 313. The outer end of theelectrical connection element 313 may be electrically connected to thebottom of the groove or may be electrically connected to the outer sideof the sinking region 3215, and the present invention is not limited inthis aspect. Further, the top surface of the photosensitive chip 31 maybe consistent with the top surface of the circuit board main body 321 orlower than the top surface of the circuit board main body 321 or higherthan the top surface of the circuit board main body 321. That is, thepresent invention does not limit the sinking depth.

Further, in the figure of this embodiment of the present invention, thesinking region 3215 is a through hole, that is, both sides of thecircuit board 32 communicate through the through hole.

The base 33 of the photosensitive assembly 30 of the camera module 100integrally packages at least a portion of the non-photosensitive region312 of the photosensitive chip 31. In other words, the base 33 packagesthe circuit board and the photosensitive chip 31 by means of integralforming so that the photosensitive chip 31 is stably fixed and theformable region of the base 33 is increased. The base 33 encapsulatesthe electrical connection element 313.

It is worth mentioning that, compared to the above manner in the firstpreferred embodiment described above that the base 33 is only formed onthe circuit board, the manner of molding on the photosensitive chipallows the range in which the base 33 can be integrally formed to beextended to the non-photosensitive region 312 of the photosensitive chip31, thereby increasing the connection area of the bottom portion of thebase 33 without affecting the normal photosensitive operation of thephotosensitive element 31. As a result, the base 33 can be more stablyconnected to the circuit board 32 and the photosensitive element 31, andthe top portion can provide a larger mountable area for othercomponents, such as the lens 10, the lens carrying element 20, etc.Also, the electrical connection element 313 is encapsulated by the base33, thereby avoiding external interference with the electricalconnection element 313, and preventing the electrical connection element313 from oxidizing or being dust contaminated to affect the imagingquality of the camera module 100.

In this embodiment, the photosensitive chip 31 and the electricalconnection element 313 are integrally packaged by the base 33, so thatthe photosensitive chip 31 can be fixed by the base 33. A bottom plate323 may be disposed at the bottom of the circuit board 32, or the bottomplate 323 may not be disposed.

A schematic view of a camera module 100 in accordance with the ninthpreferred embodiment of the present invention is as shown in FIG. 20 .

The filter element 40 is correspondingly disposed on the photosensitiveassembly 30, and the base 33 combines the photosensitive assembly 30 andthe filter element 40 into one body after being formed to form anintegral structure. That is, unlike the above embodiment, the filterelement 40 is disposed on the base 33 by means of integral forming, itcan also be disposed on the base 33 by a different manner, such as anadhesive bonding manner.

The filter element 40 is correspondingly disposed on the photosensitiveassembly 30 to form at least one sealed space between the filter element40 and the photosensitive assembly 30, wherein the photosensitive regionof the photosensitive chip 31 of the photosensitive assembly 30 islocated in the sealed space, respectively, so that the molding materialfor forming the base 33 does not enter the sealed space in a process ofperforming molding to form the base 33, and thus the base 33 is formedonly outside the sealed space, and wherein the base 33 encapsulates aportion of the circuit board 32 and a portion of the filter element 40after being formed, and the base 33 has the light window 333, thephotosensitive region of the photosensitive chip 31 corresponding to thelight window 333, so that the light window 333 provides a light passagefor the lens 10 and the photosensitive chip 31.

FIG. 21 is a camera module 100 in accordance with the tenth preferredembodiment of the present invention.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the photosensitive assembly30 includes a blocking lens 14 disposed above the photosensitive chip31, and the blocking lens 14 is integrally packaged by the base 33.Light reflected by an object enters the interior of the camera module100 from the lens 10 and the blocking lens 14, and is subsequentlyreceived and photoelectrically converted by the photosensitive element31 to obtain an image associated with the object. The arrangement of theblocking lens 14 can reduce the optical TTL (the distance from the planeof the lens 10 at the clear aperture of the lens 10 to thephotosensitive plane of the chip), and thus further reduce the size ofthe camera module 100 without affecting its optical performance, meetingthe demand of the electronic device for mounting the small-sized cameramodule 100. At the same time, the arrangement of the blocking lens 14can also reduce stain sensitivity. For example, in one embodiment, stainsensitivity of 50% can be reduced.

In this preferred embodiment of the present invention, preferably, theblocking lens 14 is implemented as a lens sheet with the thermosettingproperty. That is, the blocking lens 14 is implemented as a thermosetlens sheet, so that the blocking lens 14 can withstand the ambienttemperature in a molding process when the molding process is performed.For example, it can withstand a molding ambient temperature of 180° C.in a molding process of an embodiment. That is, the high temperatureresistant and thermally hardened processed blocking lens 14 is connectedto the support element 334 before the molding process and is placed in amold with the circuit board 32 and the photosensitive chip 31. A curedmolding material of fluid is molded around the outer surfaces of thesupport element 334 and the blocking lens 14 to integrally form the base33, so that the base 33 can be integrally formed on the circuit board32. That is, the base 33, the circuit board 32 and the blocking lens 14form an integral structure. It should be understood by those skilled inthe art that the blocking lens 14 of the present invention may be notonly a thermoset lens sheet, but may also be a lens sheet 11 of otherproperties, and the present invention is not limited to this.

Further, the blocking lens 14 includes a lens main body 141 and a lensperipheral edge 142 disposed around the lens main body 141. Since theblocking lens 14 is a precision optical element, the edge of the lensmain body 141 is relatively thin. The lens peripheral edge 142 disposedat the edge of the lens main body 141 and integrally connected is athickened bracket design, and is capable of carrying the lens main body141 to enable the lens main body 141 to be integrally molded to the base33 in a mold while the optical performance of the lens main body 141 isnot affected. That is, before the base 33 is formed, the lens peripheraledge 142 of the blocking lens 14 is disposed in the non-photosensitiveregion 312 of the photosensitive chip 31, and the lens main body 141 ofthe blocking lens 14 is disposed in the photosensitive path of thephotosensitive chip 31 of the photosensitive assembly 30; and after thebase 33 is formed, the base 33 encapsulates the circuit board 32, atleast a portion of the non-photosensitive region 312 of thephotosensitive chip 31, at least a portion of the support element 334,and the lens peripheral edge 142 of the blocking lens 14 to form thephotosensitive assembly 30.

It is worth mentioning that the blocking lens 14 can also be theedge-cut lens sheet, thereby reducing the edge portion of the lens sheet11 and reducing the area of the blocking lens 14, so that the shape ofthe blocking lens 14 corresponds to the shape of the lens 10.

FIG. 22 is a camera module 100 in accordance with the eleventh preferredembodiment of the present invention.

The circuit board main body 321 includes a first board body 3211 and asecond board body 3212, and the first board body 3211 and the secondboard body 3212 are fixedly connected by a connecting medium 3213. Thefirst board body 3211 may be a hard board, the second board body 3212may be a soft board, and the connecting medium 3213 may be an ACFconductive adhesive. The second board body 3212 may further include aninterface terminal, such as a connector, to facilitate electricalconnection to an electronic device.

In some embodiments, the base main body 331 is integrally formed on thefirst board body 3211, and the second board body 3212 is lap joined atone end of the first board body 3211. In the manufacturing process, thecircuit board main body 321 may be first built by the first board body3211 and the second board body 3212, and then integrally formed, or maybe integrally formed on the first board body 3211, and then the secondboard body 3212 is electrically connected to the first board body 3211.For example, it is fixed to the first board body 3211 by the ACFconductive adhesive.

It is worth mentioning that although the second board body 3212 isconnected to the upper portion of the first board body 3211 through theconnecting medium 3213 as shown in FIG. 22 , in other embodiments of thepresent invention, the second board body 3212 is connected to the bottomof the first board body 3211 through the connecting medium 3213, and thepresent invention is not limited in this aspect.

FIG. 23 is a camera module 100 in accordance with the twelfth preferredembodiment of the present invention.

In this embodiment, the circuit board main body 321 is provided with aflip-chip groove 3214, and the photosensitive chip 31 is mounted in theflip-chip groove 3214 in a flip-chip manner. That is, the photosensitivechip 31 is mounted on the board main body 321 by means of FC (FlipChip). The flip-chip groove 3214 is opposite to the lens 10.

That is, the photosensitive chip 31 is mounted from below the circuitboard main body 321 toward the circuit board main body 321 during themounting process, and the photosensitive region of the photosensitivechip 31 performs a light sensing function through the flip-chip groove3214.

FIG. 24 is a schematic view of a camera module in accordance with thefourteenth preferred embodiment of the present invention.

In this embodiment, the lens carrying element 20 is integrally connectedto the base 33, and the lens 10 is adapted to be mounted to the lenscarrying element 20 to form a fixed focus camera module.

Further, the lens carrying element 20 extends at least partiallyintegrally upward from the base main body 331 to form a closed lenslimiting space. That is, in this way, the base 33 includes the lenscarrying element 20 to provide a limit and installation space for thelens 10.

In the manufacturing process, the base 33 with the lens carrying element20 may be integrally formed on the circuit board 32 by using a mold. Thelens carrying element may also be formed on the base main body by meansof a secondary molding after the base main body is formed, and thepresent invention is not limited in this aspect.

FIGS. 25A and 25B are schematic views of a camera module 100 inaccordance with the fifteenth preferred embodiment of the presentinvention.

In this embodiment, the lens 10 includes at least two lens units, andthe optical path of each of the lens units coincides with each other.Further, at least one lens unit of the respective lens units is anedge-cut lens unit. That is, at least one of the lens units includes atleast one edge-cut lens sheet.

Specifically, in this implementation, the lens 10 includes two lensunits, which are a first lens unit 110 and a second lens unit 120,respectively, and the first lens unit 110 and the second lens unit 120are stacked and disposed from bottom to top. The first lens unit 110 isan edge-cut lens. The first lens unit 110 and the second lens unit 120are independent of each other. That is, in the process of manufacturing,the first lens unit 110 and the second lens unit 120 may each be formedseparately, and then two lens units are assembled, such as by gluebonding.

Further, the first lens unit 110 includes four lens sheets 11, which area first lens sheet 111, a second lens sheet 112, a third lens sheet 113,and a fourth lens sheet 114, wherein the fourth lens sheet 114 is anedge-cut lens sheet. The first lens unit 110 includes an edge-cut lensbarrel 12, and each of the lens sheets 11 is separately mounted in thelens barrel 12.

It is worth mentioning that in the manufacturing process of the lens,the optical axis consistency and the relative angular relationshipbetween the lens sheets are some important factors affecting the imagequality of the lens. When assembling each of the lens sheets and thelens, it is necessary to adjust the relative position, especially theposition of the last lens sheet. The last lens sheet is typicallyassembled by pre-assembling the lens sheet and then adjusting theorientation of the lens sheet, such as rotating by a predeterminedangle, so that the lens has better imaging. In this embodiment, theadjustment of the relative position of the lens sheet may be achieved byadjusting the second lens unit 120. That is, when the lens 10 isassembled, the first lens unit 110 and the second lens unit 120 arefirstly assembled, next, the first lens unit 110 and the second lensunit 120 are pre-assembled, and then the second lens unit 120 or thefirst lens unit 110 is rotated to adjust the relative position of thefirst lens unit 110 and the second lens unit 120, so that the imagingquality of the lens 10 reaches the requirements of imaging quality orobtains a better imaging effect, that is, the purpose of adjusting therelative positional relationship between the lens sheets is achieved.

FIGS. 26A and 26B are schematic views of a camera module and aphotosensitive assembly in accordance with a fifteenth preferredembodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment of the presentinvention, the circuit board main body 321 includes a first board body3211 and a second board body 3212, and the second board body 3212 iselectrically connected to the first board body 3211. The first boardbody 3211 may be a hard plate, and the second board body 3212 may be asoft plate. For example, the second board body 3212 may be electricallyconnected to the first board body 3211 in a press-fit manner, or may beelectrically connected to the first board body 3211 through a conductivemedium. The second board body 3212 may further include an interfaceterminal, such as a connector for electrically connecting to anelectronic device. That is, the second board body 3212 is an electricalconnection terminal for electrically connecting to other devices, suchas an electronic device.

Further, the chord edge 1141 of the edge-cut lens sheet of the lens 10and the chord edge portion 121 of the edge-cut lens barrel 12 are closeto one side of the second board body 3212. Specifically, the base mainbody 331 includes four side edges, which are a first side edge 33101, asecond side edge 33102, a third side edge 33103, and a fourth side edge33104, respectively. The first side edge 33101, the second side edge33102, the third side edge 33103, and the fourth side edge 33104 aresequentially and adjacently connected to each other in a closed mannerto form the light window 333. The second side edge 33102 and the fourthside edge 33104 are located on two sides of the first side edge 33101,and the third side edge 33103 is opposite to the first side edge 33101.

A support member 3320 is mounted to the base main body 331, and thefilter element 40 is mounted to the support member 3320 so that thefilter element 40 is in the photosensitive path of the photosensitivechip 31.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the first side edge 33101is adjacent to the second board body 3212, and the chord edge 1141 ofthe edge-cut lens sheet of the lens 10 is located at the direction ofthe first side edge 33101. That is, the chord edge 1141 of the edge-cutlens sheet and the chord edge portion 121 of the edge-cut lens barrel 12are close to the interface terminal of the camera module 100.

Further, in this embodiment of The present invention, the electronicelement 332 and the electrical connection element 313 are disposed onthe second side edge 33102 and the fourth side edge 33104 of the base,making full use of the position of the circuit board main body 321corresponding to the second side edge 33102 and the fourth side edge33104. That is, the electronic element 332 and the electrical connectionelement 313 are disposed at positions of the first board bodycorresponding to the second side edge 33102 and the fourth side edge33104. In particular, the electronic element 332 and the electricalconnection element 313 are disposed in a direction perpendicular to thechord edge 1141 of the edge-cut lens sheet so that the size of thedirection where the chord edge 1141 is located is maximally reduced. Itis worth mentioning that, although in this embodiment of the presentinvention, the electrical connection element 313 and the electronicelement 332 are disposed on opposite sides, in other embodiments of thepresent invention, the electrical connection element 313 and theelectronic element 332 may be disposed on any two sides, three sides orfour sides of the photosensitive chip 31 as desired. That is, theelectronic element 332 and/or the electrical connection element 313 maybe selectively disposed on one side edge, two side edges, and three sideedges of the first side edge 33101, the second side edge 33102, thethird side edge 33103, and the fourth side edge 33104 of the base mainbody 331, and the present invention is not limited in this aspect.

It is worth mentioning that, in some embodiments, the chord edge 1141 islocated in the direction of the first side edge 33101, and theelectronic element 332 is not disposed at a position corresponding tothe first side edge 33101, so that the requirement of the widthdimension of the first side edge 33101 is reduced, thereby increasingthe possibility that the volume of the camera module is further reduced.That is, the arrangement positions of the electronic element 332 and theelectrical connection element 313 may be adjusted according to thedirection in which the chord edge 1141 is disposed.

Further, in this embodiment of the present invention, the widthdimension of the first side edge 33101 is small, which is adapted to theedge-cut design of the lens 10, namely, adapting to the chord edge 1141of the edge-cut lens sheet and the chord edge portion 121 of theedge-cut lens barrel 12. In particular, the width dimension W1 of thefirst side edge 33101 is smaller than the width dimensions W2, W4 of thesecond side edge 33102 and the fourth side edge 33104.

FIGS. 27A and 27B are schematic views of a camera module and aphotosensitive assembly in accordance with a sixteenth preferredembodiment of the present invention. Unlike the fifteenth embodiment, inthis embodiment of the present invention, the third side edge 33103 isaway from the second board body 3212, the chord edge 1141 of theedge-cut lens sheet of the lens 10 and the chord edge portion 121 of theedge-cut lens barrel 12 are located in the direction of the third side33101. That is, the chord edge 1141 of the edge-cut lens sheet and thechord edge portion 121 of the edge-cut lens barrel 12 are away from theelectrical connection end of the camera module 100. That is, the chordedge 1141 of the edge-cut lens sheet is located on the side opposite tothe second board body 3212.

Further, in this embodiment of the present invention, the widthdimension of the third side edge 33103 is small, which is adapted to theedge-cut design of the lens 10, namely, adapting to the chord edge 1141of the edge-cut lens sheet and the chord edge portion 121 of theedge-cut lens barrel 12. In particular, the width dimension W3 of thethird side edge 33101 is smaller than the width dimensions W2, W4 of thesecond side edge 33102 and the fourth side edge 33104.

FIGS. 28A and 28B are schematic views of a camera module and aphotosensitive assembly in accordance with a seventeenth preferredembodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment of the presentinvention, the edge-cut lens sheet includes two chord edges 1141, andthe edge-cut lens barrel 12 includes two chord edge portions 121. One ofthe chord edges 1141 of the edge-cut lens sheet and one of the chordedge portions 121 of the edge-cut lens barrel 12 are located on the sideclose to the second board body 3212. The other of the chord edges 1141of the edge-cut lens sheet and the other of the chord edge portions 121of the edge-cut lens barrel 12 are located on the side away from thesecond board body 3212.

Further, one of the chord edges 1141 of the edge-cut lens sheet and oneof the chord edge portions 121 of the edge-cut lens barrel 12 arelocated at the first side edge 33101 of the base main body 331. Theother of the chord edges 1141 of the edge-cut lens sheet and the otherof the chord edge portions 121 of the edge-cut lens barrel 12 arelocated at the third side edge 33103 of the base main body 331.

FIG. 29 is a schematic view of an array camera module in accordance withthe fifteenth preferred embodiment of the present invention.

In this implementation, the array camera module includes a plurality ofthe camera modules 100 so that the modules cooperate with each other. Inparticular, each of the camera modules 100 is separately disposed, thatis, the circuit board 32 and the base 33 of each of the camera modules100 may not be connected.

Further, each of the camera modules 100 may be assembled by an outerframe 50.

Further, in some embodiments, the array camera module may be formed bythe camera module 100 of the present invention and a conventional cameramodule, that is, the array camera module includes at least one cameramodule 100.

FIG. 30 is a schematic view of an array camera module in accordance withthe sixteenth preferred embodiment of the present invention.

In this implementation, the array camera module 100 includes a pluralityof camera modules 100 so that the modules cooperate with each other. Inparticular, each of the camera modules 100 is disposed in aninterconnected manner, that is, the circuit board 32 and the base 33 ofeach of the camera modules 100 may be connected to each other to form anintegral structure.

Further, in some embodiments, the array camera module may be formed by acombination of the camera module 100 of the present invention and aconventional camera module, that is, the array camera module includes atleast one camera module 100. At least one of the camera modules 100 maybe interconnected with a conventional camera module to form the arraycamera module.

FIG. 31 is a schematic view showing a method of manufacturing the lens10 in accordance with the above-mentioned preferred embodiments of thepresent invention. The present invention provides a method 1000 ofmanufacturing a lens 10, the method comprising steps of:

1101: injection molding at least one edge-cut lens sheet;

1102: injection molding an edge-cut lens barrel 12; and

1103: mounting the edge-cut lens sheet to the edge-cut lens barrel 12 ata predetermined position.

FIG. 32 is a schematic view of an application of the camera module 100in accordance with the above-mentioned preferred embodiments of thepresent invention.

The present invention further provides an electronic device 300, whereinthe electronic device includes an electronic device body 200 and atleast one camera module 100, and wherein the camera module 100 isdisposed on the electronic device body 200 for acquiring an image. It isworth mentioning that the type of the electronic device body 200 is notlimited. For example, the electronic device body 200 may be a smartphone, a wearable device, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, ane-book, a personal digital assistant, a camera, a monitor apparatus orany electronic device that can be equipped with the camera module 100.It should be understood by those skilled in the art that although theelectronic device body 200 is implemented as a smart phone in FIG. 32 ,it does not constitute a limitation to the content and scope of thepresent invention.

It should be understood by those skilled in the art that the embodimentsof the present invention described in the above description and theaccompanying drawings are only exemplary and not limiting to the presentinvention. The objects of the present invention have been achievedcompletely and efficiently. The function and structural principles ofthe present invention have been shown and described in the embodiments,and the embodiments of the present invention may be varied or modifiedwithout departing from the principles.

1. A camera module, comprising: a lens, wherein the lens includes atleast one edge-cut lens sheet, wherein the edge-cut lens sheet has atleast one chord edge and at least one circular edge, and the chord edgeand the circular side are adjacent, wherein the curvature of the chordedge and the curvature of the circular edge are different; and aphotosensitive assembly, wherein the lens disposed on the photosensitiveassembly and is located on a photosensitive path of the photosensitiveassembly parallel to a direction of an optical axis, and thephotosensitive assembly includes a photosensitive chip, a circuit boardand a molded base, wherein the photosensitive chip is electricallyconnected to the circuit board, and the molded base is disposed on thecircuit board; wherein the circuit board has an elongated shape, and thechord edge of the edge-cut lens sheet extends along a direction parallelto a short axis of the circuit board and perpendicular to a long axis ofthe circuit board, and the chord edge of the edge-cut lens sheet islocated in an extension direction of the long axis of the circuit board.2. The camera module according to claim 1, wherein the photosensitiveassembly further includes at least one electronic element, and theelectronic element is integrally enclosed by the molded base and islocated at a side of the molded base, wherein an extension direction ofthe side of molded base is perpendicular to the chord edge of theedge-cut lens sheet.
 3. The camera module according to claim 1, whereinthe photosensitive assembly further includes at least one at least oneelectrical connection element, and the photosensitive chip iselectrically connected to the circuit board via the electricalconnection element, wherein the electrical connection element is locatedat a side of the molded base, and an extension direction of the side ofmolded base is perpendicular to the chord edge of the edge-cut lenssheet.
 4. The camera module according to claim 1, wherein the circuitboard has a circuit board main body, and the circuit board main body isextending in the extension direction of the long axis of the circuitboard.
 5. The camera module according to claim 4, wherein the circuitboard main body has a first board body and a second board body, and thesecond board body is connected to and extends from the first board bodyalong the extension direction of the long axis of the circuit board. 6.The camera module according to claim 5, wherein the first board body hasa connection side and an opposite side opposite to the connection side,wherein the connection side of the first board body is connected to thesecond board body.
 7. The camera module according to claim 6, whereinthe chord edge of the edge-cut lens sheet is located adjacent to theconnection side of the first board body when view from the direction ofthe optical axis, and the chord edge of the edge-cut lens sheet isadjacent to the second board body.
 8. The camera module according toclaim 6, wherein the chord edge of the edge-cut lens sheet is locatedadjacent to the opposite side of the first board body when view from thedirection of the optical axis, and the chord edge of the edge-cut lenssheet is away from the second board body.
 9. The camera module accordingto claim 5, wherein the first board body and the second board body areintegrally formed.
 10. The camera module according to claim 5, whereinthe first board body and the second board body are fixedly connected bya connecting medium.
 11. The camera module according to claim 6, whereinthe first board body further has two wing sides extending between theconnection side and the opposite side of the first board body; whereinan extension direction of the short axis of the circuit board isperpendicular to the extension direction of the long axis of the circuitboard, and a connecting line of the two wing sides is parallel to theextension direction of the short axis of the circuit board.
 12. Thecamera module according to claim 11, wherein the photosensitive assemblyfurther includes at least one electronic element integrally enclosed bythe molded base, and the electronic element is located on at least oneof the two wing sides of the circuit board.
 13. The camera moduleaccording to claim 11, wherein the photosensitive assembly furtherincludes at least one electrical connection element electricallyconnected to the photosensitive chip and the circuit board, and theelectrical connection element is located on at least one of the two wingsides of the circuit board.
 14. The camera module according to claim 1,wherein the extension direction of the long axis of the circuit board isperpendicular to the direction of the optical axis.
 15. The cameramodule according to claim 14, wherein the circuit board has two wingsides, and a connecting line of the two wing sides is perpendicular tothe extension direction of the long axis of the circuit board and alsoperpendicular to the direction of the optical axis; wherein thephotosensitive assembly further includes at least one electronic elementintegrally enclosed by the molded base, and the electronic element islocated on at least one of the two wing sides of the circuit board. 16.The camera module according to claim 15, wherein the photosensitiveassembly further includes at least one electrical connection elementelectrically connected to the photosensitive chip and the circuit board,and the electrical connection element is located on at least one of thetwo wing sides of the circuit board.
 17. The camera module according toclaim 16, wherein the electrical connection element is not overlappingwith the molded base in the direction of the optical axis.
 18. Thecamera module according to claim 16, wherein the photosensitive assemblyfurther includes a plurality of electronic elements and a plurality ofelectrical connection elements, and the electronic elements and theelectrical connection elements are arranged along each wing side of thecircuit board.
 19. The camera module according to claim 1, wherein thephotosensitive chip is disposed on the circuit board, and the moldedbase surrounds the photosensitive chip, wherein the photosensitive chipdoes not overlap with the molded base in the direction of the opticalaxis.
 20. The camera module according to claim 1, wherein the chord edgehas a curvature of zero and is a straight-line segment, and the circularedge is a circular arc.